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Slow Down Through Roadworks

A new safety campaign has been launched featuring the families of people who maintain Hampshire’s roads, urging motorists to take more care as they drive past road works.

The ‘My Family Works Here’ campaign has been instigated by Amey, Hampshire County Council’s highways maintenance partner, and is being launched to coincide with National Road Safety Week from 21 – 27 November.

The campaign features signs showing Amey staff with members of their family and slogans such as ‘SLOW DOWN! My Daddy works here’.

These are now being used throughout the county at Amey work sites on or near busy roads.

“The highest risk of injury or death for Amey’s Hampshire workforce is from traffic passing our sites too fast or without due care,” says Chris Morris, Amey account director in Hampshire. "All our operatives wear bright yellow when out on site, but it’s not enough to keep them safe. You’d be amazed at how many people drive recklessly past road works, even entering coned areas where my people are at work.

“We’re hoping that showing our workers with family members will help humanise them, and encourage drivers to be more aware and to simply slow down. No one wants to be the reason someone’s Daddy doesn’t come home from work at the end of the day.”

In Hampshire this year passing motorists represented the greatest risk of injury or death for Amey’s workforce. The company’s risk register shows one third of ‘near misses’ were due to traffic incidents – averaging 17 per month. Recording and addressing these are part of the company’s own internal Target Zero campaign, which aims to achieve zero harm to employees and members of the public.

Amey highways supervisor Steve Greenwood features on some of the campaign signs with his two sons, Jake aged 10 and Matthew aged 7. “I think it’s a great campaign. Everyone who works on the roads is very aware of how risky it is to be so close to live traffic. We work to high health and safety standards, but we can’t control how people drive. Hopefully these signs will help remind drivers to take a bit more care, then we all get to go home.”

Councillor Mel Kendal, Executive Member for Environment and Transport at Hampshire County Council added: “The County Council is committed to making Hampshire’s roads as safe as possible for everyone who uses them, and have a good track record in reducing casualties year on year. We run a number of campaigns aimed at different people to stress the importance of road safety - most recently launching a campaign warning teenage pedestrians of the potential dangers of being distracted by using a mobile or listening to music at the roadside – and fully support Amey’s campaign to make drivers more aware of the safety of their workforce.”

As well as Steve Greenwood and his two sons, campaign signs also feature depot manager Natasha Hawkes and her husband with the slogan ‘SLOW DOWN! My wife works here.’